Listening to scanner, man also knew of cops' car crash who were en route to him.

Further Reading

Two men accused of firing lasers at law enforcement helicopters were arrested in Central California earlier this month, federal prosecutors with the Eastern District of California announced on Thursday.

Authorities arrested one of the men, Johnny Quenga, of Fresno (approximately 190 miles southeast of San Francisco) who is accused of firing a laser at a Fresno Police Department (FPD) helicopter. Police also arrested another man in Bakersfield who likewise is accused of firing at a county sheriff’s helicopter.

In Quenga’s case, the first FPD patrol car headed to investigate him ended up getting in a serious car accident, and the officers required hospitalization.

When a second group of FPD officers reached him, they found an iPhone with an app that was actively monitoring the FPD police scanner frequency. Prosecutors believe Quenga was “at the very least” aware that his actions resulted in a serious car accident of FPD officers who were en route to question him.

Because of the harm caused to the officers on the ground, which delayed the FPD's response, prosecutors say that Air-1's crew were left in danger longer than they should have been. As such, Quenga also faces one count on the larger charge of “interfering with the safe operation of an aircraft.” If convicted of that count and “aiming the beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft," the Fresno man could face a maximum combined sentence of 25 years in prison.

Mollie Halpern, an FBI spokeswoman, told Ars earlier this year that there were 3,894 reported laser strikes nationwide in 2014—a slight reduction of 1.67 percent compared to 2013.

Cops had to be rescued with heavy machinery

Quenga’s case began on Thursday, March 5, when Officer Ken Schneider, an FPD helicopter pilot, was on routine patrol at 500 feet in the air. (Ars flew with Schneider as part of our 2014 feature on laser strikes.)

According to an FBI affidavit written by Special Agent Johnnie Santiago, Schneider then:

was struck through the left and back cockpit window with a green laser approximately six times over a period of about ten minutes. The beam of light caused FPD Tactical Flight Officer (TFO) Jeffrey Logue to experience temporary flash blindness, after imaging, a persistent headache lasting several hours requiring pain medication, and dizziness. TFO Logue has been struck numerous times in the past by green laser beams while serving as a Tactical Flight Officer. According to TFO Logue, the green laser beam in this case was much brighter than in the past. FPD Pilot Kenneth Schneider also experienced a momentary loss of night vision. Due to the intensity of the green light which illuminated the cockpit, Pilot Schneider had to restrict his field of vision and utilize a wide orbit to avoid further strikes, in order to maintain ultimate control of the aircraft.

As FPD’s Air-1 orbited above the “area of the laser beam, the laser continued to track the aircraft approximately three times.”

Further Reading

Logue used the on-board Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) camera to determine that the laser emanated from a particular intersection in the Pinedale neighborhood of Fresno. He then radioed down to officers on the ground, who attempted to reach the suspect.

But that FPD patrol car unit was then “broadsided at the intersection of Blackstone and Herndon Avenues in Fresno and rescue crews had to use the Jaws of Life to remove one of the officers. Both officers were immediately taken to the hospital and treated for serious injuries.”

“Just made a bad decision,” to say the least

A second FPD unit reached the suspect’s home along North San Pablo Avenue, where they found Quenga.

Officer [Nathan] Heinrichs detained Quenga for the purpose of conducting an investigation of the laser incident. While handcuffing Quenga, Officer Heinrichs heard FPD radio traffic coming from sweatshirt pocket. Quenga consent to a search and, as a result, the officer found cell phone that was playing FPD radio traffic on an app. Quenga said he could hear everything the officers were saying and knew that they were looking for him and had possibly hidden the laser.

When Officer Heinrichs asked Quenga where his laser pointer was, he said he did not have one. When asked about his understanding of why the police was contacting him, Quenga stated—it was because someone in the house behind him shined a green laser in the air. He also said he would not do anything like that, because he knew he could get in trouble and lose his job over it. It was later determined that Quenga works a security guard.

Eventually, Quenga waived his Miranda rights to remain silent and to have an attorney present, and showed the officers that he had an airsoft rifle with a laser mounted on it.

Enlarge/ Prosecutors say that Johnny Quenga had a laser mounted to an airsoft rifle like this.

The officer then asked why he had pointed the laser at the police helicopter. Quenga said it was because he was “dumb” and “just made a bad decision.”

Later on, at an FPD office, Quenga said he had purchased the rifle for $65, knew not to point it at people’s eyes, and “admitted that he had pointed it directly at the police helicopter approximately three times.”

Likely because the laser strike incident resulted in serious bodily harm to police officers, sealed federal charges were immediately brought the next day, March 6, 2015.

Ars asked Assistant United States Attorney Karen Escobar, the prosecutor in both cases, whether the implication was that Quenga had somehow caused the FPD crash.

She e-mailed on Saturday morning:

The officers involved in the crash were responding to Air 1’s call for ground assistance. The scanner, which was on, would have transmitted communications about the accident, suggesting at the very least that the defendant was aware of the ensuing harm caused by his actions.

The Sentencing Guidelines (USSG Section 1B1.3) provide that the base offense level for the purpose of computing a defendant’s sentencing guideline range shall be determined, in part, on the basis of “all harm that resulted from the acts and omissions” caused by him. The accident also delayed the response, further endangering the officers operating Air 1.

The aggravating circumstances of this laser incident warranted prompt attention by law enforcement authorities.

Prosecutor Escobar strikes again

Further Reading

The second case involved a man named Barry Lee Bowser, Jr., who has been charged with firing a laser at a Kern County Sheriff’s Department helicopter flying over Bakersfield, California (110 miles northwest of Los Angeles) back in September 2014. He initially was arrested under related state charges, and then released when it became a federal case.

Bowser was not arrested until March 17 in San Luis Obispo, California, approximately 120 miles due west of Bakersfield.

Both cases are being brought by Escobar, who has unintentionally become the nation’s top prosecutor for laser strike cases. Among her casework, the prosecutor brought United States v. Rodriguez to trial—that case famously resulted in the defendant receiving a sentence of 14 years for a laser strike incident.

These defendants have become numbers 12 and 13 in a series of federal criminal cases coming from the Eastern District of California (centered in Fresno County) since 2007. (Numbers 10 and 11 were federally indicted in February 2015.) Combined with an additional 20 state convictions from this region, this district alone constitutes over 35 percent of the less than 100 total laser strike convictions nationwide—state and federal—since the FBI began keeping track a decade ago.

Part of why laser strike cases happening in and around Fresno County have been successfully prosecuted is that three local and state law enforcement agencies—the Fresno Police Department, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department, and the California Highway Patrol—all operate helicopters and low-flying aircraft from the Fresno International Airport, essentially flying patrol in concentric circles.

It’s notoriously difficult for authorities to pinpoint where a laser strike is being fired from, particularly when fired at a commercial aircraft. But when fired against law enforcement aircraft (particularly helicopters that can easily hold their position in the air), it is far easier.

Last year, Escobar also pointed out that as a largely rural county, there are less crimes for law enforcement to respond to compared to larger areas in the state, such as Los Angeles County. By comparison, Fresno County only has about one million people spread across just 6,000 square miles.

If convicted, Bowser faces a prison term of five years and a fine of up to $250,000.